Floor tiles and liquid

[Roper]

Hi all,

Been reading some interesting information on the forum for some time. Great stuff! Having a detached garage being built now. I am been reading about all so the different things being used on the floor. I really like the tile idea but have one question. If some liquid material is spilled on the tiles, do you have to take up the tiles to clean under them? I know oil or antifreeze is going to end up on the floor. Does this liquid seep between the tiles? Just wondering.

Thanks in advance for the responses.
Steve

 

[metalhead140]

Also been curious about this and haven't found a direct answer. It's the major reason I'm leaning towards porcelain tile at this point. Anyone?

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Yes, you can get seepage through a modular tile.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[ontcanuck]

Try these PVC tiles http://www.garageflooringllc.com/tuff-seal/ water will not seep through. As far as I am concerned the best solution on the market and not slippery. The downside its expensive but I had a price for having my garage tiled and it was a lot more then the PVC tiles.

 

[Garage Flooring]

Try these PVC tiles http://www.garageflooringllc.com/tuff-seal/ water will not seep through. As far as I am concerned the best solution on the market and not slippery. The downside its expensive but I had a price for having my garage tiled and it was a lot more then the PVC tiles.

Thanks for the kind words!

Hard Plastic Tiles

Hard plastic tiles such as Racedeck, Swisstrax, TrueLock and Sport Court all have a gap between each tile. Many if not all of the manufacturers will suggest you take them up once a year and clean under them. The other option is to use a ribbed tile and clean through them.

PVC Tiles

Quality PVC tiles such as TrueLock PVC, TrueLock Premier and Tuff Seal tiles do a better job of not allowing moisture to go through the tile -- in either direction.

The question becomes how watertight do you need your floor?

Many folks are not concerned about it. They simply do not have vehicles that leak and they clean up spills in a timely fashion. For those who are a little more concerned, a good PVC tile, although not watertight from a legal perspective, is more watertight than most people need to worry about.

From time to time we get someone with a wood substrate or a room below the garage where 100% watertight is of concern. In those cases Tuff Seal is the only product I know of that has a guaranteed watertight installation method.

The Downside of PVC

Everything has pluses and minuses. Since moisture can't go from the top down, if you have a slab with a moisture issue, some would argue that you run the risk of trapping that moisture. I have never seen mold or mildew below a PVC tile but its a fair point. PVC is also more likely to stain than a hard plastic tile, but using product like Hilway Direct Plus or a top coat helps a lot.

Is it [Water] really an issue?

Most of the time its not. You will find people who only sell hard plastic tiles will find reasons to that their tile is the best way to deal with moisture. PVC people will tell you the same thing. We do both because every garage and every homeowner is different. Most, but not all of the time, these issues are perceived concerns that sales people capitalize on to make a sale. Sometimes there are real problems and they need addressed.

 

[metalhead140]

Thanks for the response, it's a big help. My concern is that my cars (being older classics) DO drop a bit of oil from time to time, and sometimes that oil may sit for a while. Also, I use my garage as a workshop, and that means that brake fluid and oil spills do happen, it's a matter of when, not if. Rising damp through the concrete is not an issue in my case. I suspect the PVC floor would be very nice to work on, being a bit softer, and if it seals then that's good. You mention that it stains, how easily? How easy is it to clean spills?

 

[metalhead140]

Ok, I've just had a look at your website. The PVC tile looks like a pretty good option if it cleans up well, but the price is kind of frightening at ~$37 square metre for the cheapest option (not allowing for wastage), and approaching double that for the Tuff Seal. I have 54 square metres of floor to do (20x30 feet). Given I should be able to tile (myself, I've done quite a bit of tiling) with a good through body porcelain for less than half that (thinking ~$15/square metre, $20 tops)... Am I missing anything? The PVC would probably be a nicer (softer) surface to work on though.

 

[ontcanuck]

I had a tile guy come down and first of all the floor has to be totally free of any oil etc.. I had some pitting in my cement so that had to be fixed. Depending on the tiles I wanted was a lot of difference in price. The whole job from a cheaper tile ($3000) to the tile I wanted (coin style) ($5500) for a 22' X 30' garage.To do it in the PVC http://www.garageflooringllc.com/tuff-seal/ around $3600 and a wide range of colours and no prep work. If you go to 1 colour you can go to http://www.garageflooringllc.com/true-lock-pvc-garage-tiles/ that would be much cheaper.

 

[metalhead140]

Fair enough, yeh, if you were paying someone to do the tiling it would cost a lot more. I am pretty confident of being able to tile my space for under $1000 doing it myself, as I say, I've done quite a bit of tiling before. Even with the discounted tiles at $8.95 each, I'd need 4 for every square metre (not including wastage), meaning $36+ per square metre or ~$2,000 for the space. I could probably pay that, but at twice the cost what are the advantages?

 

[ontcanuck]

I have done a lot of tiling also but doing a garage is a different animal. Some tile guys I talked to won't even do a garage. He suggested porcelain tile as its PSI rating is pretty high.
The good quality tile is pricey and the floor prep for a garage has to be perfect. No mastic, but mortar bed with full contact (back butter the tiles). You may have to make an expansion cut through the tile and about an inch into the concrete for expansion/contraction if you live in a very cold area of the country.
You will need to begin with a porcelain tile rated for exterior (99.9% of porcelain is) and a PREMIUM thinset. Better still, you'll want to apply an anti-fracture membrane to the floor and , consider locating "soft joints" or expansion joints every 8-12' of the surface and around the perimeter to permit the natural expansion and contraction caused by cold weather.

The cost of the tile should run between $2-5 per square foot and the thinset + anti-fracture will come in around $2 per square foot. If not done properly tiles will crack, grouting will get dirty and crack and make sure you use dark tiles as the tire marks will show on light tiles.

 

[Garage Flooring]

Fair enough, yeh, if you were paying someone to do the tiling it would cost a lot more. I am pretty confident of being able to tile my space for under $1000 doing it myself, as I say, I've done quite a bit of tiling before. Even with the discounted tiles at $8.95 each, I'd need 4 for every square metre (not including wastage), meaning $36+ per square metre or ~$2,000 for the space. I could probably pay that, but at twice the cost what are the advantages?

Keep in mind too that this pricing is in the US. So getting material to you could be very expensive. @ontcanuck has done a very good job of explaining the Pros and cons from he prospective; in fact I think I owe him a beer or something

 

[metalhead140]

Thanks hugely to both of you, all very good info. Fortunately here in Aus I don't have to worry about freeze/thaws etc. Yes, I recognised the prices were in US $, but I figured I could probably find something similar here, and it gave me a baseline to work from, our $ has been similar to the US $ for a while, though it's bit lower at the moment. The slab I'm working with has been down for ~11 years, is nice and flat and smooth with no cracking and minimal dustyness - much better than the rough and dusty/powdery slab in my previous garage! It's actually a very good slab, I just want something a bit easier to keep clean and nice, and that will make the area a bit brighter and nicer to work in.

Something a bit softer for when working on the floor would be nice (and PVC tile has a definite advantage there I imagine), but it seems to me that doesn't work so well with my other requirements, so probably best just to have a rubber mat or two for that purpose?

 

[metalhead140]

I have done a lot of tiling also but doing a garage is a different animal. Some tile guys I talked to won't even do a garage. He suggested porcelain tile as its PSI rating is pretty high.
The good quality tile is pricey and the floor prep for a garage has to be perfect. No mastic, but mortar bed with full contact (back butter the tiles). You may have to make an expansion cut through the tile and about an inch into the concrete for expansion/contraction if you live in a very cold area of the country.
You will need to begin with a porcelain tile rated for exterior (99.9% of porcelain is) and a PREMIUM thinset. Better still, you'll want to apply an anti-fracture membrane to the floor and , consider locating "soft joints" or expansion joints every 8-12' of the surface and around the perimeter to permit the natural expansion and contraction caused by cold weather.

The cost of the tile should run between $2-5 per square foot and the thinset + anti-fracture will come in around $2 per square foot. If not done properly tiles will crack, grouting will get dirty and crack and make sure you use dark tiles as the tire marks will show on light tiles.

I can get a suitable porcelain tile for around $10-11 per square metre (around $1 per square foot). I'm not overly picky on what tile... it's a garage, and I figure any tile in a reasonable colour will look good.

I realise the costs with the thinset. I have a good slab and didn't expect an anti fracture layer would be necessary in my climate/on this slab, judging from the experience of others on the forum? I'm keen to hear your thoughts on that.

I was planning to go with a dark grout assuming that would mean staining of the grout is not really an issue. I'm interested with what you say about tyres staining light tiles, as I haven't seen anyone else say that and wouldn't have expected it. Have you seen this somewhere?

Thanks again, I really appreciate your thoughts and experience/insight,

Andrew.

 

[ontcanuck]

It makes no difference what type of floor you have. A friend of mine has the race deck white and black tiles and after 3 yrs. the white tiles don't look good and he has a hard time cleaning them. Another person I know tiled his garage with light gray and black tiles and same type of problem. In both cases the black looked fine. I have never seen a floor done in the PVC tiles so I can't say, that is why I am going with black and dark gray checkered tiles. This will be done in April when this deep freeze we are in will be gone

 

[redpost]

I installed a checkerboard pattern of black, aluminum and alloy colored RaceDeck in the garage and it sees dirt, sand, salt, slush and the like picked up regularly from roads during winter storms. I sweep it often and wash it with a mop when it gets dirty. With that type of maintenance it continues to hold up very well. I see no issues with seepage and in the one vehicle that I know leaks a little I use a small drip pan under that local area of the leak.

I have been using RaceDeck as a floor liner in the beds of my pickup trucks for over ten years and never have had any problems with leakage/seepage. I hose out the RaceDeck out regularly in the truck.